Measure Upon Measure – Death – The Restoration Of God - Part 12 (Section 4) Series

MEASURE UPON MEASURE – DEATH – THE RESTORATION OF GOD - Part 12 (Section 4)

We have been considering the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin of disobedience. By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. All have died because all are sinners. There are six results of that sin – guilt and shame; separation; cursing; sorrow; the current one which is death; and next time, condemnation.

Death is finality and I have devoted more time to it than to other consequences but it has been difficult to divide up this whole message into sections. Therefore a few of the sections are smaller than my normal messages. We spent time looking at The Saviour’s Road as He identified with our sin in His ministry here and ultimately, becoming the Lamb of God who died sacrificially for the sins of the world.

Two smaller sections remain and these will deal with the restoration of what Adam lost. Through Adam, all died, but in Christ all can be alive. That is what we are now going to do as we look at what Christ has restored – He restored what He did not take away.

WHAT CHRIST HAS RESTORED – THAT WHICH HE DID NOT TAKE AWAY

Now it remains to map out His restoration in the most serious of all consequence; that of death.

The Lord gave an illustration once when He was with His disciples. He told of a seed of wheat remaining unspent, and of another dying. The seed that died to itself brought forth much fruit. Christ became that grain of wheat, crushed by man and God, who died to Himself but out of His death has come a multiplied increase, fruitfully producing blessing upon blessing. He restored what He did not take away. Sin produced death. Death has cut us off from God.

That concept of the fine wheat being crushed and made into the finest flour and bread is an image taken up by one of the most notable martyrs of the Christian faith. Ignatius of Antioch, also known as Ignatius Theophorus, was an early Christian writer and Patriarch of Antioch. While en route to Rome in A.D. 110, where he met his martyrdom in the arena in the reign of Trajan, Ignatius wrote a series of letters.

In one of them Ignatius of left behind a profound statement that continues to captivate the hearts and minds of believers even to this day: "I AM GOD'S WHEAT, AND I SHALL BE GROUND BY THE TEETH OF BEASTS, THAT I MAY BECOME THE PURE BREAD OF CHRIST." This quote, while succinct and straightforward, holds immense meaning and offers valuable insights into the nature of dying to oneself. That image is drawn from the grain of wheat dying.

The Lord Jesus’ restoration blessings will be examined from three aspects.

[A]. THE FIRST RESTORATION BLESSING – ACCEPTANCE

If you are one of these people who at times likes to observe others, then you will notice sometimes at parties, or conferences or gatherings, EVEN in a church setting to our shame, a person who is not fitting in, a loner. The person may be new, or out of his or her depth – but the reason is not the critical part – the acceptance is. To be in a situation and not to be accepted does hurt when you feel rejected for no apparent reason. “No apparent reason” is most likely snobbery or exclusion from a social, or “in” group. Rejection is not being accepted in the “in group”. Even churches are guilty of this where cliques operate. Thank God there are people who migrate to the loner to make that one feel welcome. We must do it as Christians, but sadly some don’t and some churches don’t.

What did our Lord do? He practised acceptance. He was there for the broken-hearted, the rejected of society. He accepted the leper, and the demonic of Luke 8, and the outcast cripple, and the blind, and the needy, the prostitute, the tax collector. His parable known as The Good Samaritan, saw rejection and acceptance in action. The wounded, needy one, was rejected by the very ones who should have been the first to reach out.

In a sense this parable sees a reject accepting another reject. Samaritans were looked down on, rejects of the followers of Jeroboam. Who better to understand the plight of the one rejected and abandoned than Another who was rejected of men, abandoned and crucified? We speak of the Lord. In that He underwent all these things, He is then able to draw near to those who are the unaccepted of society to bring them into the blessings of God. His ministry as High Priest is marvellous.

Meeting the woman at the well in John 4 was no coincidence for it was determined in eternity past to happen. This woman certainly was not accepted by society or by the self-righteous ones who had no compassion to understand her position, but the Lord did. Once rejected and now accepted in the Lord, this woman rejoices in heaven today that Christ accepted her in her sin, and died for her, tasting death in her place, so that she is a partaker of the living water freely available.